Genie and Engineer 1: The Engineer Wizard

by Glenn Michaels

  “But—”

  “He’s in no danger,” Haworth snapped. “He’s had the antidote.”

  “Yeah, that’s right,” Colston responded.

  Paul let them get six feet from him and then, using the handcuffs as an amulet, cast a spell that put them both into a light trance. They slowly curled up on the floor and were fast asleep in seconds.

  Standing up was a somewhat painful exercise for Paul. Every muscle and bone in his body protested his movements. The wheels touched down on the runway, the pilots standing on the brakes, the plane jerking hard. Paul was nearly thrown forward to the floor but managed to stay vertical. In seconds, the plane slowed to a taxi speed and abruptly pulled off the runway onto a concrete taxi-way. Then it screeched to a stop, the engines spooling down.

  One of the pilots popped out of the cockpit and, in surprise, looked down at the two Army sergeants on the floor.

  “What happened to them?” he asked, his voice faltering.

  “Stage Two,” Paul answered, grimly and dispassionately shaking his head.

  Without a word, the pilot scrambled for the hatch door, furiously working the handle. The hatch slammed open and then he was gone, no doubt running pell-mell for the terminal building. The other pilot came out as well, took one look at Colston and Haworth and was out the hatch in a flash.

  “Would you mind sticking with me for a while? I have a few questions,” Paul told Jaret.

  “Not at all. If I could do anything to help, please ask,” he responded.

  “If you could keep those Oni asleep another minute or two, that would be great,” Paul suggested. “In the meantime, let’s go.”

  Descending the steps built into the hatch, Paul stepped down to the taxiway. In the distance, he could see emergency vehicles heading their way from the terminal buildings, their sirens making a forlorn wail. The two pilots were still dashing pell-mell in that direction. Paul walked over to the center of the taxiway and reached down to touch the concrete.

  “What are you doing?” Jaret asked, taken aback.

  “Going to rescue Capie, my fiancée. Are you ready?”

  “You’re going to use this pavement for an amulet? Can that be done?” the other wizard asked incredulously.

  “Watch me.”

  • • • •

  Paul cast a small spell, using it to determine his location to be at the Rickenbacker Air Force Base at Columbus, Ohio. Via a series of portals, touching the concrete in bridges and over-passes, Paul followed I-70 west to Indianapolis, then I-65 northwestward up to Chicago. His last jump put him under the overpass of Interstate 88 at Freedom Drive. At this spot, he was less than a mile from the rental house on East Bauer Road.

  Jaret, now as a complete person, dressed in the same brown shirt and gray pants that he wore on the mountain top so long ago, watched as Paul used a magical spell to create a small portal and extract his block of tantalum from the underground cavity where he had stashed it earlier.

  “What’s that?” Jaret asked, pointing at the tantalum.

  “This is my version of the story that’s too long to explain right now,” Paul replied. “We’ll do that later, after Capie is free.”

  “You came here for that shiny gray brick?”

  Paul held it out to him. “Touch it.”

  Jaret shrugged and reached out to stroke it with his finger tips… and jerked his hand back as if he had been electrically shocked, his eyes bulging. “In the name of all that’s holy, what is that stuff?” he asked, reaching out to gently touch it again. “By Allah, it’s at least five times more potent than gold!”

  Paul nodded. “It’s called tantalum and has an isotope of 180m, an extremely rare material, far more rare than gold.”

  The ex-genie stared at it wide-eyed. “And it’s a metal. No wonder you came to get it. It’s not a talisman but…” Jaret looked up to stare at Paul in abrupt understanding. “You’re going to use this in a talisman, aren’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “You have been busy while I was gone. That will make a very potent talisman. Very potent.”

  “I’m ready to go get Capie now,” Paul said, changing the subject. “But I don’t know where they might have taken her.”

  “Is this Capie person your intended?” Jaret quietly asked.

  “Yes,” Paul answered with a frown. “But maybe they didn’t take her anywhere. After all, she isn’t a wizard yet. And those four-flushers might have lied to me. So the smart thing to do is to check her house first.” And then Paul glanced at the sky, noting the position of the sun. Could it be true? Was it not even 5 p.m. yet? “No, not her house. Her place of work. It’s not far from here. Let’s go.”

  Capie was in danger and he needed to hurry.

  Gritting his teeth in apprehension and tightly gripping his tantalum, Paul formed a portal and stepped through.

  THIRTY THREE

  Hillshire Brands Office Building

  3500 Lacey Road

  Downers Grove, IL

  June

  Thursday 4:45 p.m. CST

  They hovered in mid-air, ten feet above the roof of the eight story office building while Paul studied the structure.

  “She’s in this building?” Jaret asked, indicating with a wave of his hand the edifice below them.

  “It’s where she works,” Paul answered uncertainly, rubbing the back of his neck. “Let’s see here. I need the right words for this spell. In the names of Superman, Dr. James Xavier and airport screening machines, let a display appear, revealing an image of the inside of the fourth floor of this building.”

  “That was the strangest incantation I have ever heard,” Jaret observed in a puzzled tone of voice.

  “The first two are fictional characters in science fiction,” Paul explained with a grim smile, as he twitched his fingers, guiding the newly created display image around inside the building. “Superman is a superhero from another planet with a lot of exceptional powers. Dr. Xavier is from the movie The Man With the X-Ray Eyes.”

  “What is science fiction? And what is a movie?” Jaret asked, even more puzzled.

  “You have a lot of catching up to do,” Paul said, with a smirk. “I suggest you find a nice girl to explain it to you. Not Capie, of course. She’s taken.”

  Jaret smiled in return. “This century sounds interesting. I’ve lived a somewhat sheltered life. Why the fourth floor?”

  “She mentioned she worked on that floor once,” Paul replied in an absent minded fashion, as he examined the displayed image in front of them. The view of the building interior continued to move down the aisle between office cubicles, letting Paul see their occupants and the various name plates on the cubicle partitions.

  The view reached the end of the hallway where there was a set of offices with actual glass walls and wooden doors. There, prominently displayed, was Capie’s name on one of the doors. When Paul rotated the image, he could see Capie in her wheelchair at her desk and talking to someone on the phone. There were two other people in the small room with her.

  He breathed a huge sigh of relief. “So those blasted Feds were lying after all,” he said with shaky laughter, feeling greatly mollified. “Big surprise, huh, considering that they work for the U.S. federal government. On the other hand, I am so glad that they did lie.”

  “Shall we charge in? Or should we use a portal to bring her to us?” Jaret asked, trying to be helpful.

  “Neither one,” Paul responded, with a glance at the wall clock in Capie’s office. “It’s almost time for her to leave for the day. Let’s wait until she is alone. Besides, I have a question I want to ask you, while she is not in earshot.”

  The former genie half bowed, the ghost of a smile on his face. “Ah, I should have guessed. I have one or two questions for you as well.”

  “You do?” Paul asked him, eyes widening slightly, a little taken aback.

  “You first,” the other wizard said, still with that ghostly smile.

  “Okay,” Paul said, clasping his hand
s behind his back, lowering himself to the asphalt rooftop where he started pacing a few steps back and forth. He was most anxious to ask this question, but he was also wary what the answer might be. “A while back, I tried to make Capie a wizard too. The spell failed. Could you make her a wizard, as you did for me?”

  Jaret chuckled. “Yes, I thought that might be your question. It’s strange; I recently learned that all the other wizards on Earth have the same problem. Did you know that there have not been any new wizards for over 400 years?”

  “Yes, I was told that, but I was never told why,” Paul admitted. He held his breath, waiting for the other man to answer his question.

  Jaret chuckled, more than a little amused. “No doubt they tried hard. In this little war they’ve been fighting, it would have helped one wizard or the other if they could have taken some more humans and turned them into wizards as well. If so, there would be scores of wizards instead of the mere handful that there is now.”

  Paul nodded. “That thought did cross my mind. So tell me, why can’t the rest of the wizards do what you did when you made me a wizard? What was so special about your spell?”

  Jaret glanced at the image of Capie working so diligently at her desk then turned back to Paul. “When I gave you magical powers, I did so because you saved me from a fate worse than death. If I give you the secret of passing on that power to others—your wife-to-be and likely your children too—then I want something in exchange.”

  “And what is that?” Paul asked.

  “I want the secret of the special metal you carry. Teach me about this isotope thing. I want to be able to fabricate an extraordinary talisman, the same as you are obviously planning to do.” He grinned at Paul.

  Paul laughed. “Is that all? Any decent physics teacher could explain it to you. Wikipedia too. But I agree to your terms.” Paul reached forward with an outstretched hand. With a grin, Jaret shook it.

  “It’s a deal,” Paul agreed, grinning wickedly with a brief glance over at the image of Capie. “But not tonight.” And then another thought hit him. “Uh-oh.”

  Jaret looked instantly concerned. “Is there something wrong?”

  Paul weakly smiled. “Yeah. It just hit me how stupid I am sometimes. Like right now, for instance.”

  “You do not strike me as stupid,” Jaret argued, now appearing puzzled. “I repeat. Is there something wrong?”

  Paul nodded with a sad frown. “I’ve known since the beginning that Capie would be in danger, if our relationship got serious. However, I always thought that her danger would be that of collateral damage, simply due to her proximity to me, at least until she was a wizard in her own right. But I didn’t realize that Errabêlu would use her as leverage against me. I’m really sorry about that. I really should have figured that out earlier. Any organization that would engage in wholesale murder of millions of people wouldn’t hesitate to use a ‘Normie’ for any purpose. But, for whatever reason, I overlooked that possibility.” He sighed before continuing. “I really screwed up and we are indeed fortunate that my mistake didn’t get Capie killed.”

  Jaret took a few seconds to consider Paul’s words and then shook his head. “I agree that it wasn’t very smart. However, it worked out well. There has been no harm done.”

  “Ah, but that’s not all,” Paul said. “Don’t you see? Capie is not safe here now, because of me. She can’t stay here! She has to come with me or they’ll kidnap her as fast as they can arrange it, probably later tonight.” For a few moments, he studied the image of Capie working at her desk. “The problem is that she doesn’t know any of this yet. Oh, sure, we’ve talked about how I might have to leave Chicago at some time in the future. But this is much sooner than even I expected. And it’s going to hit her cold. I can’t just march in and tell her to pack her bags, we’re leaving right this minute. She’s going to have a problem with that. She might even refuse to go with me!”

  “Yes, I see your problem now,” Jaret said as he too studied Capie in the visual display. “You could just use magic to force her to go with you.”

  With a disbelieving glare at the other wizard, Paul asked him, “Was that a serious suggestion?”

  Jaret grinned. “No, not really. If you give her magical powers, she will eventually figure it out, if you use magic to force her to go with you now. That might not work out very well.”

  Paul snorted in disbelief. “You think?!” He paused to consider the problem further before continuing. “No, I guess I don’t have any options here. I will just have to explain the situation the best I can and let her make up her own mind.”

  “And if she chooses to stay here?”

  With a gulp, Paul looked away and didn’t answer the question.

  Jaret pointed at the display. “It looks like she is getting ready to leave.”

  Paul quickly came to the same conclusion. “Come. Let’s see if we can meet her in the elevator.”

  • • • •

  Paul used a small spell on a man approaching the elevator to keep him from getting on, making sure that Capie would be the only occupant therein. The elevator was just passing the second floor when Paul and Jaret opened a portal and stepped into the small space, right next to Capie’s wheelchair.

  Her reflexes were good. With a cry and a snarl, she jerked back, prepared to hurl her purse at Jaret.

  Until she recognized Paul. Then she froze and stared at him.

  “Sorry to scare you like that, honey,” he apologized profusely. “But time is of the essence.”

  “Who’s your friend?” she asked, giving Jaret a funny look.

  Paul gave a nod at the other wizard. “I’d like you to meet Jaret, the ex-genie I told you about. Jaret? This is my fiancée, Capie Kingsley.”

  The wizard bowed deeply, smiling. “Very charming, Capie. It’s a great pleasure to meet you.”

  She returned his smile uncertainly. “Likewise. I want to thank you for giving Paul his magical powers. I would never have met him otherwise. Thanks.”

  “My pleasure, I assure you,” Jaret responded with a smaller bow. “It was one of the smarter decisions I’ve ever made.”

  Capie glanced back over at Paul. “Why are you here in the elevator?” The door chose that moment to open on the main floor. A well appointed lobby could be seen off to the left. Paul grabbed the wheelchair handgrips and pushed it forward.

  “Right now, every minute is important,” Paul hurriedly explained to her. “I’m sorry we scared you but we have to act fast.”

  “‘Nice of you to tell me in advance,’” she said, a touch of irritation in her voice.

  “‘That’s what you get for missing staff meetings, Doctor,’” Paul quipped, quoting Kirk in Star Trek III, The Search for Spock.

  Paul quickly turned the wheelchair to the right and down the hallway.

  “Why are you here?” she repeated. “And where are we going? The lobby and the parking lot are in the other direction. We can take my van to my house where we can be comfortable,” Capie stated in a manner of fact voice.

  “We are going to your house,” Paul retorted. “We just don’t have time to fight city traffic right now.”

  A portal opened up in the corridor in front of them and Paul pushed her through—

  —into the living room of her house.

  “There’s been many a day when that would have been handy,” she truthfully observed. “What’s going on, Paul? Why the hurry?”

  “Capie?” Paul murmured, swinging the wheelchair around so that he could see her face. “Dear, remember when I told you that my time in Chicago was limited and that one day I would have to leave? Somehow, and I don’t how, but somehow, they have found me. I must leave Chicago immediately.”

  Startled, her eyes took on a guarded look. She brushed a strand of hair to one side. “They found you?”

  “Yes. And they captured me too,” he admitted with a sigh. “Thanks to Jaret, though, I was able to escape.”

  “I didn’t help,” Jaret quickly admonished h
im. “I wasn’t there. And I am not here either. Oh, and by the way, Paul performed a brilliant escape too. You’d have been proud.”

  Capie blinked and shook her head in confusion. “I don’t understand.”

  Paul reached out to take her hand. “Dear, they know where I live. They knew about you, too. I have to leave now.”

  “But…” she started to stammer.

  “And I want you to come with me,” he added, searching her face carefully, not knowing how she would react to the sudden change in their situation.

  “The wedding? All the plans? My job? My father?” she whimpered, near the edge of tears.

  Paul stared into those beautiful blue eyes of hers. “You do understand, don’t you, that if you go with me that you must leave everything behind? Your job, your house, your van and even your father?”

  With one lip quivering, she nodded quietly. “But we would come back someday, wouldn’t we?”

  “Yes, dear. That is The Plan.”

  With a quick snuffle, Capie wiped away a sudden tear. “It’s just that it’s so abrupt. I thought we would have a little more time!”

  Paul’s heart felt like it might break. “I’m so sorry, but you must make a choice now. You can stay here, if you like. I won’t force you to go with me. If you do decide to go with me, I promise we will get married as soon as possible and we will finish the healing of your spinal column.”

  “Does it have to be now? Can I have a couple of days to prepare for this?” she practically begged him.

  Paul glanced over at Jaret, who sadly shook his head.

  “I’m sorry, but I must move quickly,” Paul patiently explained, squeezing her hand gently and then leaning forward to give her a tight hug. “They’ll search my house first, then yours. When they find I am not in either place, they’ll watch you like a hawk after that, hoping to use you as bait to catch me. I’ll have to keep my distance then.” Almost, he nearly gave in to the temptation to tell her the real danger she faced if she remained in the Chicago area. But he bit his tongue instead and waited for her to make her choice; a choice hopefully based on her feelings for him and not her fear of Errabêlu.